


first trip

by neopuff



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-25
Updated: 2020-11-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:09:13
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,201
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27708827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/neopuff/pseuds/neopuff
Summary: Pepper muses about F.O.W.L. before going on her first big assignment with The Phantom Blot.
Relationships: Pepper (Disney: DuckTales)/Phantom Blot (Disney)
Comments: 7
Kudos: 42





	first trip

**Author's Note:**

> I just wanted to write something for these two! They're fun. I hope we see more of them soon.

It’d been a long time since she’d had a real job.

Though the newspaper ad she responded to was a _bit_ misleading, Pepper didn’t mind the work. She did everything she was asked to do with no questions asked, just as Director Buzzard demanded. And for her loyal service, she made twenty dollars an hour _and_ got health insurance! If her yaya was still alive, she’d be so proud. Or maybe she wouldn’t. But she’d be impressed, at least!

The costumes were a bit odd, and getting all of her giant curls under that helmet was definitely a struggle at first, but at least the colors were flattering! And she liked feeling like such a unified team. It wasn’t her first time wearing a uniform, either - and these were _much_ better than the little hats they wore at Hamburger Hippo.

She also got along great with everyone! The other Eggheads didn’t have as much to talk about as she did, but they didn’t seem to mind when she couldn’t stop talking. Or, well, they didn’t seem to mind _too_ badly. Occasionally she’d start rambling and when she opened her eyes, everyone was gone. But that was only every once in a while!

It was on one of the days that she repeatedly reminded herself to _listen, don’t talk_ that she noticed how all of the other Eggheads seemed _very_ concerned about one of the higher ranking members of F.O.W.L.:

The _Phantom Blot._

They were complaining about how creepy and intense he was - how he was always grumbling things in another language and blasting holes in the walls of his office and having random bursts of anger. Pedro swore one time he was cleaning near his office and suddenly he just heard loud crying out of nowhere. Keisha said he had an entire drawer filled with weird childish drawings of a dog family. Alabio said he was confident that the guy did not eat or shower or ever take off his cloak - but he didn’t stink up the place, so Pepper thought that one probably wasn’t true.

She didn’t have any problems with Mr. Blot. He _was_ very intense, and a little bit scary, but she didn’t mind. Her life was _filled_ with intense people! In her experience, they had good reason to be like that. And if people were hearing him burst into tears and collect weird, sad drawings, he probably had very, _very_ good reason.

Besides - she had _health insurance!_ How could she complain about her work with benefits like that? A loud, scary superior was nothing compared to the fear of getting sick while uninsured.

It was that attitude that led her directly to Director Buzzard’s office when he announced that he needed a recruit to travel with Phantom Blot on a special mission to Scotland. _Scotland!_ She’d never even been out of the country before! And not a single other Egghead moved a muscle, so Pepper proudly stood up and made her way down the hall.

When she opened the door to the director’s office, she saluted as Black Heron exited with a sway of her hips and a wink behind her. Director Buzzard grumbled and Pepper didn’t move her arm as she walked the rest of the way inside.

“What do you need?”

She continued to salute and smiled. “I’d be happy to accompany Mr. Blot on his mission, Sir!”

“Really?” The director shuffled some papers around. “Good. What’s your name, again?”

“Pepper, Sir!”

Bradford leaned over to squint at his laptop screen and did some quick typing and clicking before looking back at her. “Alright, you’re all set. Go to Blot’s office and let him know - he’s planning to leave in about an hour.”

“Yes, Sir, Director, Sir!”

He grunted and waved her out the door, immediately going back to filling out the paperwork on his desk.

Pepper held back a squeal of excitement as she exited the room and did a _perfect_ cartwheel as she made her way to Mr. Blot’s office. He was probably going to be really excited about having a partner! No one ever volunteered to work with him if they could help it, not even for shorter assignments, so an international field trip with a new buddy was definitely going to make him happy!

* * *

He was not happy, Pepper noticed. He actually seemed pretty annoyed that she was in his space.

But it was her _job_ to help him out! She wasn’t just assigned to work with him, she _wanted_ to! Wanted to learn more about him and his goals and the righteous justice of destroying evil witches!

_(She knew most members of F.O.W.L. didn’t have righteous justice in mind when it came to their life goals - in fact, some of them were definitely supervillains. But Pepper didn’t mind that, either, especially not with her track record. With all the candy bars she’d stolen in her life, how could she possibly judge them?)_

“Don’t touch anything!” Blot grumbled at her while tinkering with his giant fancy glove thingy.

“Yes, Sir!” Pepper said with another salute as she leaned back on the balls of her feet and whistled quietly. She didn’t have anything to pack or anywhere else to be, so she’d stay right there and help Mr. Blot get ready. Anything he asked of her, she’d get it done!

Two minutes passed and he had yet to ask for anything. Another five minutes and the only thing he asked for was _“peace and quiet”_ so she stopped her whistling and started looking around the room instead.

There were definitely scratches and holes in the walls - the other Eggheads didn’t lie about that. Other than that, his walls were lined with photos and drawings of Magica De Spell - the evil witch he’d sworn vengeance against. Pepper didn’t know his history with De Spell, but everyone knew her work and all the trouble she’d caused in Duckburg back in the day. Though she’d disappeared for twenty years or so, her grand return was very destructive and everyone in town had the displeasure of dealing with her magic.

He also had tons of books and scrolls related to anti-magic - a concept Pepper had never thought about before. But it was really neat! She didn’t care much for magic, it definitely created more mess than it helped, so she was happy to contribute to whatever was happening.

Mr. Blot opened one of his desk drawers and shuffled through the mess of papers - Pepper paid close attention to what she could see and she could clearly make out some crude pencil drawings that looked like they were made by a child. Keisha was telling the truth! Well, either that, or Mr. Blot was _very_ bad at drawing. Pepper was pretty bad at it herself so she didn’t want to assume.

After another minute, he stood up and Pepper strained her neck to keep her eyes on his as he towered over her. She gave him a big, toothy grin and clasped her hands together behind her back.

“Ready to go, Mr. Blot, Sir?”

He sighed deeply and clenched his gloved hand into a fist. “Yes. Let’s go destroy _Castle McDuck._ ”


End file.
